Refrigerated case with forced circulation of air



March 25, 1952 E. BocKMEYER 2,590,496

REFRIGERATED CASE WITH FORCED CIRCULATION OF AIR 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed Aug. 6, 1949 INVENTOR. ELDO/V BOCKMEVER BY v ATTORNEYS.

March 25, 1952 E, BocKMEYER REFRIGERATED CASE WITH FORCED CIRCULATION OF -IR 2 SHEETS- SHEET 2 Filed Aug. 6, 1949 INVENTOR. ELDON BOC/(MEYER l L J ATTORNEYS.

land have necessitated frequent defrostings.

Patented Mar. 25, 1952 UNITE-o `s TAT Es PATE-.NT orsici?.

vREFRIGERATED CASE 4WITH FORCED .CIRCULATION OF AIR Eldon Bockmeyer, Philadelphia, Pa.

`Application August 6, 1949, ySerial No. .108,981

3 Claims.

1 .This invention relates to a .refrigerated case and is of particular utility when the case is of the -display'type- AAlthough the case of this .inventionmay be used for storing any item which Imust :be kept refrigerated, it is of special merit when used for the storage of meats.

There exists today numerous problems with .respect to refrigerated cases. In the first instance, there has been experienced great diiculty .intmaintaining the desired 'temperature and humidity conditions within the case. Themainte- Anance of these conditions is of particular importance where meat is being refrigerated. For example, when fresh ,beef is exposed to a '35 F. temperature and a humidity of 82%, itl improves in edibility for va period of ten days to two weeks. Fresh cutme'at will keep a bright color and moist appearance for periods up to two days if not exposed to direct sunlight or white fluorescent bulbs. It will experience a shrinkage ldue to evaporation of only vabout .2% in twenty-four hours.

In the average meat case, however, in order to maintain a case temperature of 35 F., it has been necessary to keep lthe cooling coils at a temperature of :about 10 F. This results in a relative humidity `of labout 50% where the case temperature is 35 F. 'Under'these conditions, fresh meat will'start to kdarken in color within an hour and willlose weight at the rate of '2% in twenty-four hours. Consequently the-butcher suffers due to fa loss of weight incident vto both a loss of moisture and the fact that discolored portions of the Ameat mustbe cut away and 'since the meat becomes 'less palatable.

Attempts vto remedy `the humidity situation where meat is `being refrigerated by using a blower to 'accelerate the circulation of Jair Ipast the cooling coils have been generally unsuccessful Vdue to the factthat `the accelerated flow of 'air over 'the meat brings .about a Adiscoloration condition known :fas 'windburn Further, the handling of the moisture 'forming in the vicinity of .the coling coils Ahas posed problems which have not been adequately solved. In the kfirst place, it is necessary to have drip pans `tocatch the moisture running off of the cooling coils and their associated fins. These drip pans generally result in blocking to a considerable ...invention successfully attacks vall of 'the above The refrigerated Vcase in laccordancev with this briefly indicated problems `and thereby provides 'a yrefrigerated case which is vastly superior to 'those heretofore known.

It is, therefore, an object of this .invention 'to provide a refrigerated vcase having improved ire- -frigerating conditions.

It is a-further object of this invention 4to provide a refrigerated case which provides proper refrigerating temperatures and yet utilizes Ahigher cooling coil temperatures.

It is a further object of this invention'to l.provide a refrigerated lcase which provides yproper refrigerating temperatures and yet utilizes khigher cooling coil temperatures and has a low velocity "of air movement Iin the vicinity of vthe vstored product so that anymeat being refrigerated will not suier from discoloration incident to windburn.

It is an additional object of this Vinvention `to provide a refrigerated case lhaving `means for nfreducing frosting and icing in the vicinity of the cooling coils' and fins.

`An additional .object of this invention is fte provide 1a refrigerated case'h'avingsuperior means for carrying oil moisture from the cooling tubes "and ns and whichonly slightly impedes the 'flow 'of :air within the case.

A still further object of this invention is to provide means whereby defrosting can becarrried yout rapidly, thereby vpreventing the `temperature Iwithin vthe case from rising to an undesirable level.

These and other objects .of this invention will .become apparent on reading vthe description in vconjunction with the :following drawings, :in

which:

Figure 1 lis a front lperspective view :of va re- `frigerated vdisplay case vin accordance with A.this

cated -by .the line 3 3 .in Figure 1;

extentfthe 'free flow of cold air preventing the A .desirable thermo-syphon action. Again, frost- -ing V'and .icing conditions about the cooling coils and fins have.inhibitedthe proper heat 4exchange In order'to defrost-properly, it has been necessary to vstopfrefrigera'tingfor such a long time that the .case-.reaches an 'undesirablyihigh temperature.

Figure vl is a vertical 'section of a modied 1re- `frigerated display case .in accordance with this invention showing the lblower located in .the upper portion o'f the casing adjacent the cooling coils vand fins.

Figure 5 is a section taken von the vvplane inydica'ted .by 'the line `Ei--li in Figure l.

.As shown in Figure l, a refrigerateddisplay l, `case '2 in accordance with 'this linvention `has sa Step t2 and sliding glass doors I4. 'The various walls, the top and bottom of the casing are provided in the usual manner with suitable thermal insulation to prevent heat loss therethrough.

Cooling coils I6 which are adapted to carry a refrigerant pass through and are in contact with cooling fins I8. The coils I6 and fins I8 are supported within the case adjacent top I2.

As will be seenparticularly in Figure 3, ns I8 are quadrilaterals angularly disposed so that the lowest corner 20 of each n is directly over a small trough 22. The trough 22 slopes gradually downwardly from the right end of case 2 as viewed in Figure 1 and is connected at its left hand end to a drain pipe 24 which passes through the bottom of the case. It will be particularly noted that the angular displacement of the fins causes the moisture to flow towards the low corner 20 of each n where it will drop off the n. This permits the use of a very narrow trough which, as illustrated by trough 22, occupies only a small portion of the space below the cooling coil and n assembly and thus interferes with the ow of air a minimum amount.

Fins I8 are formed of metal. In order to deter water from building up on the surfaces of the ns in the form of streams and drops and promote an even diffusion of the moisturev over all of the n surfaces, the surfaces of the fins are freed of any grease or other film which may be lying o n the surface. This may be satisfactorily accomplished by any conventional socalled degreasing agent, for example trisodium phosphate, carbon tetrachloride and sodium hydroxide. Etching or roughening of the surface also is efli'cacious in getting an even distribution or diiusion of the moisture. Nitric acid, sulphuric acid and a mixture of these acids may be used.

A blower 25 is secured to the bottom of case 2 and supplies air taken in at the bottom of the casing to a duct 28. Duct 28 is connected to ducts 30 and 32 which', in turn, are connected to ducts 34 and 35. Ducts 34 and 36 are parallel and lie adjacent opposite ends of fins I8.

Duets 34 and 38 have openings 38 and 4U, re-

The case contains means for supporting items of various sizes within the case comprising a front bench 4 2 and a rear bench 44 secured to the bottom of the case. Right angled members 46 arranged in angle facing pairs rest on benches 42 and 44. Each member 46 is provided with stops 48 to engage `the outer sides of benches 42 and 44, respectively, so as to prevent forward or'v rearward motion of the'members 46. The members 4B are adjustably spaced apart so as to provide for the accommodation of items of various sizes.

It will be observed that ducts 34 and 36 as supplied by blower 26 provide a high velocity of air movement through the cooling coils and fins. It will further be observed that this high velocity air movement is in a substantially horizontal direction. Thus a high velocity of air movement through the cooling coil-iin assembly is achieved without resulting in a high velocity air movement in a vertical direction past the items being refrigerated and consequently avoiding windburn in the case of meats. In such an installation, it has. been found that the high velocity of circulation of air through the cooling coil-iin assembly insuch'a case perinits operation of the cooling coils at about 25 F. instead of the usual 10 F. where it is desired to maintain a cased temperature of about 35 F. while utilizing the same amount of cooling coil normally utilized. The maintenance of the coolingr'l'coils at this higher temperature, i. e., about 25 F., results in a relative humidity of about which is about30% higher than results where the coils are maintained at 10 assuming that the air being cooled in both cases is fully saturated.

The rapid flow of air through the cooling coiln assembly provides for defrosting in a minimum period of time. This, in turn, of course, means that the temperature within the case will be permitted to rise only slightly, thus maintaining a more constant temperature than cases in which the defrosting takes a longer time. It has been found that, where coils are being maintained at 25 F., the refrigerated case in accordance with this invention can be generally defrosted with a resultant temperature rise within the case of not over 2.

Referring now to Figure 4, a modied refriger-v ated case 2 which is identical with refrigerated case 2 with the one exception that the blower 26' is located in the upper portion of the case is illustrated. As shown, the upper portion of the case 2 has rear walls 8' and I0', a top I2 and glass doors I4', the lower portion of the case not being shown as it is identical with that of case 2.

Blower 26 is connected to ducts 30' and 32 which supply ducts which provide an opposing flow of air through coils I6' and fins I3.

Figure 4 indicates that the point within the case at which the blower intake is located may be varied depending on how much one desires to rely on distribution of the cold air through thermo-syphon action and how much one desires to rely on circulation of air through the case due to the action of the blower. It will be apparent from observing Figure 4 that rapid circulation of air will be provided through the cooling coil-nn assembly in the embodiment of Figure 4 as is provided in the embodiment of Figures l and 3. The case arrangement of Figure 4, however, even further reduces the velocity of air movement about the items being refrigerated in that it will be apparent that the circulation of air through the case where the various items are stored will be the result of thermo-syphon action, that is, a result of the cold air settling and the warmer air being displaced upwardly. Such an arrangement as shown here in Figure 4 is particularly desirable where items highly sensitive to windburn are being refrigerated. Such an arrangement is highly novel in that rapid circulation of air through the cooling coil n arrangement is achieved by a blower and yet the blower is not operative to force air throughout that portion of the case in which the items being refrigerated are located.

It will be apparent that the above description and the drawings are for purposes of illustration only and it is desired to be limited only as set forth in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A refrigerated storage chamber comprising a casing, spaced metal cooling ins located in the upper portion of the casing, said fins being angularly disposed so as to have vone end lower than the other and having roughened surfaces, a refrigerating coil passing through said hns, a drain trough located below the lowest point of said fins, the width of the trough being relatively small in comparison with the width of each iin, a blower located within said casing and a, pair of air ducts connected to the discharge side of said blower and disposed on opposite sides of the fins, the ducts having openings facing the coil and lying in a substantially horizontal plane to provide oppositely directed streams of air to pass through the iins and coil.

2. A refrigerated storage chamber comprising a casing, spaced metal cooling fins located in the upper portion of the casing, said fins being angularly disposed so as to have one end lower than the other and having roughened surfaces, two groups of refrigerating coils passing through said ns, said groups of coils lying in parallel planes lying at a small angle to the horizontal,Y

a drain trough located below the lowestl point of said ns, the width of the trough being relatively small in comparison with the width of each fm, a `blower located within said casing, and a pair of air ducts connected to the discharge side of said blower and disposed on opposite sides of the ns. the ducts having openings facing the coil and lying in a substantially horizontal plane to provide oppositely directed streams of air to pass through the i'lns and coil.

3. A refrigerated storage chamber comprising a casing, spaced metal cooling fins located in the upper portion of the casing, said ns being angularly disposed so as to have one end lower than the other and having roughened surfaces, a refrigerating coil passing through said iins, a blower having its intake located in the upper portion of the casing and a pair of air ducts connected to the discharge of said blower and disposed on opposite sides of said iins, the ducts having openings facing the coil and lying in a substantially horizontal plane to provide oppositely directed streams of air to pass through the coil.

ELDON BOCKMEYER.

REFERENCES CTED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,515,546 Browne Nov. 11, 1924 2,136,222 starr Nov. 8, 1939 2,181,637 Ardito 4 Nov. 2a, 1939 

